Twitter Teams Up With CardSpring To Pursue Online Shopping

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Twitter has announced that it is in the works of buying a developing company called CardSpring. CardSpring enables retailers to offer online shoppers coupons that they can automatically sync to their credit cards in order to receive discounts when they shop in physical stores. The logistics of the deal are undisclosed at this time.

“We’re excited to announce we’ve agreed to acquire CardSpring, a payments infrastructure company that helps merchants work with leading publishers to create online-to-offline promotions,” said the Twitter team in a post on its official blog. “As we work on the future of commerce on Twitter, we’re confident the CardSpring team and the technology they’ve built are a great fit with our philosophy regarding the best ways to bring in-the-moment commerce experiences to our users.”

Along with in-tweet shopping, the online-to-offline deals that CardSpring promotes will grant Twitter with a two-sided e-commerce strategy to pursue.

“We started CardSpring with a vision to develop a new type of platform that enables digital publishers and retailers to work with the payment industry to create a new generation of commerce experiences for hundreds of millions of offline shoppers,” said CardSpring in an official blogpost. “We see the intersection of payments and digital media as an opportunity to revolutionize how consumers use credit and debit cards, while helping retailers to connect and communicate with their offline shoppers – much in the same way the Internet has enabled online stores to create relationships with their online customers.”

This isn’t the first time Twitter has experimented with promotions similar to this. In the past, for example, if you were an American Express cardholder you could link your credit card account with a Twitter account and tweet #AmexBestBuy to automatically get a statement credit when you spend $250 in a Best Buy store.

It is with its acquisition of CardSpring (which should become official this quarter), however, that Twitter will now be able to formalize and broaden offers like this and make it even easier for shoppers to use. For now, Twitter users have to tweet a specific phrase or hashtag to get a discount. But the social networking site hopes that in the near future its users might be able to simply click a button in a tweet to load the discount to their cards. One possible benefit of all this, in addition to the marketing aspect, is if these were to be embedded in promoted tweets, Twitter’s ad business could also see a boost.

These features could be used in a variety of ways. For example, retailers could utilize them in order to target location-based deals to Twitter users. This would also allow Twitter to make profit off of shopping done in the physical world, an activity which still accounts for more than 85 percent of U.S. commerce.

As of now, Twitter is pushing to expand even further within it’s new-found interest of online shopping. Twitter’s goal is to release a feature that will enable users to purchase a product directly from a tweet in time for this holiday season. According to Re/code, Twitter will most likely work with payments company Stripe to help facilitate in-tweet purchases.
Source: Re/code

Facebook Testing New Buy Button

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The “Buy” button is a temptation that a lot of shopping sites possess these days, especially when it comes to offering killer deals on items that are too good to miss. However, who would’ve thought that it would become a vital feature on a social site such as Facebook

The social media site announced today that it is testing a Buy button alongside various small to medium-sized businesses in the U.S., with the overall goal to help them drive sales directly through the site, via News Feed ads and Page posts.

The way it works is like this: the posts show a general item that’s available, on sale, and can vary depending on the business that’s involved. From there, users will see a Buy button highlighted next to said item, which will take them to a purchasing page without having to leave Facebook in general.

The feature is built with “privacy in mind,” according to the site, with a payment system that’s “safe and secure.” Any credit or debit card information shared when completing a payment is not shared with other advertisers, although it can be saved for future purchases, should the users decide to opt in.

The ads, in general, are meant to build a following with certain businesses, as well as establishing larger traffic and getting customers to visit physical locations of said retailer. No word yet on how it’s working, but at least now you can buy a watch without having to get off the Facebook social feed.

Facebook’s been on a tear recently with the rapid uptake of its mobile ads, particularly by game developers. The company is clearly hoping to extend its offerings with the Buy button, and indeed it seems like there’s great business potential here. The tough part is getting the implementation correct, in such a way that consumers respond well to it without getting angry at Facebook and turing away from the site. Facebook has seemed to handle this sort of issue quite adroitly in the past, so expect good results when the company finishes its testing.

What do you think? Does Facebook really need a “buy” button?

Source: The Next Web

 

Nvidia Prepares New Gaming Devices

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Nvidia startled the game industry last year with the release of its handheld gaming console, the Nvidia Shield. The Android-powered device offered an unusual form factor and the ability to stream games from Nvidia graphics-card-equipped PCs, along with a $299 price tag. The device apparently never sold very well (though Nvidia never released sales figures), but it appears to have been something of a beginning for the tech firm. Rumors have intensified, along with leaked images and specs, that Nvidia is about to release not one but two new gaming devices with very different form factors.

A report from the BBC indicates that one of these new gaming devices is a new Android-powered microconsole similar to an Ouya, a small box that plugs into a TV via HDMI, powered by Nvidia’s new Tegra K1 processor that has power comparable to an Xbox 30 or a PS3, according to the company. A “budget-priced” controller similar to standard console controllers will be used to navigate menus and play games. The micro-console’s crucial difference from other Android-powered consoles, aside from the extra power of the Tegra K1,  will be use of the Nvidia GeForce Experience system that allows you to stream PC games from a nearby PC with suitably Nvidia-powered graphics. This may well give Valve’s Steam Machine concept a run for its money, as playing PC games on your TV is the main selling point for Steam Machines (which are apparently delayed until next year, according to Valve). Pricing is still unclear, but it’s likely to be in the $99 to $149 range that boxes like the Amazon Fire TV or the upcoming PS TV from Sony.

“I think it’s fair to say that Shield sold reasonably poorly,” said Ed Barton, a games industry analyst at the consultancy Ovum, who has now seen the new device. “And if the new device requires your PC to have a relatively new Nvidia GPU [graphics processing unit] to make use of its abilities, that will really limit its addressable market.”

Nvidia’s second device is more ambitious, a powerful gaming-centric tablet with an array of cutting-edge features. The 8-inch tablet features a 1920 x 1200 IPS screen, driven by a Tegra K1 chip. The tablet has two front-facing speakers, a 5MP camera front and back, and comes in a 16GB ($299) and a 32 GB ($399) version; the 32GB tablet adds LTE connectivity with AT&T or T-Mobile (the device will ship unlocked). YOu can add Nvidia’s WiFi controller for $60, which boasts much lower latency than a typical Bluetooth controller. The Shield tablet will also include the GeForce Experience for streaming PC games from a compatible PC nearby.

The tablet is said to last approximately ten hours in terms of battery life, and includes a mini HDMI port. The device is also compatible with Nvidia’s DirectStylus technology, which was first made available in the low-cost Tegra Note tablet late last year. DirectStylus uses the Tegra chip to analyze touch input and detect the difference between a finger, a fine-tip stylus, and a blunt eraser end on a stylus. The result is an easy-to-use, passive stylus input system.

Nvidia hasn’t commented on either device yet, so we’ll see what’s announced over the next few weeks. The slides certainly look authentic, though. What’s not clear at all is Nvidia’s intent behind the devices. On the one hand they could be intended to demonstrate the power of the Tegra K1 chip in a tangible way to both gamers and other OEMs who are considering what chip to put in their devices. Nvidia could be looking to use these devices to help sell more Tegra K1 chips to other manufacturers.

Or, Nividia could intend to actually make a dent in the microconsole and tablet market this time, and try to establish some significant sales and market share against a slew of similarly priced competitors. If that’s the case, Nvidia will need to put some serious effort into marketing and in courting game developers to support these devices. Like the original Nvidia Shield, both of these devices have good technology but will be unlikely to generate much in the way of sales without a strong effort to get some impressive games on the systems, and more importantly an exceptional marketing effort to inform and persuade the target audience to buy these devices rather than any of the competition.

The technology used in Nvidia’s new devices is impressive, as the benchmarks show. Nvidia clearly believes its tablet will be the best gaming platform among tablets, and with the GeForce Experience technology you can get PC games on your tablet while playing with an exceptional controller (though that leaves aside the fundamental question of what to do with all those keyboard and mouse controlled PC games, but perhaps you could add on Bluetooth devices for that… but then you’ve lost that compelling portability argument).

Still, features and specs aren’t sufficient to sell devices — what counts is the experience that the specs deliver. Can Nvidia point to compelling games you can only play on its devices What sort of publisher support can or will Nvidia be able to line up If Nvidia does have an array of great games to go with this hardware, can the company find a way to get that message out to consumers and convince them to buy these devices That’s a tall order, considering the sheer volume of marketing effort that will be expended the rest of this year. Nvidia will be competing for attention with full-powered next-gen consoles, current-gen consoles, microconsoles from the likes of Amazon, Sony, Google and Apple, along with a slew of new tablets and smartphones with marketing budgets measuring in the billions.

This holiday season will see some intense marketing as gigantic companies battle for scarce pool of consumer technology dollars. And it is ultimately a zero-sum game: There will be winners, and there will be losers. Only one thing is for sure: The battle for hearts, minds and wallets will be epic indeed.

Source: Digital Trends

IMages: Videocardz.com

 

NPD: At Retail, Hardware’s Strong, Software’s Weak

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While the latest generation of consoles continues to sell, a lack of new launches in June left retail sales of video game software down 3 percent — and if you counted PC retail software sales in that, sales were down five percent over June 2013. Certainly some of that is due to increased sales of full digital downloads of console software, which according to Electronic Arts is ranging around 10 percent of their total sales for a given title. However, it’s also true that we’re seeing fewer new releases from the major publishers, as they strive to make each title published as big a success as possible. Meanwhile, DLC for old titles is coming out on a regular basis, and again that’s mostly not tracked in retail sales numbers.

“Nine out of the last ten months saw year-over-year growth in new physical video game sales,” said NPD’s Liam Callahan. Of course, he’s lumping in hardware revenue with the software revenue. “While the new hardware launches were a major factor in overall new physical video game growth, the start of this year-over-year growth began in September 2013, two months before the November 2013 launches of Xbox One and PS4. September and October 2013 year-over-year growth for overall new physical video game sales were driven by software increases.” Again, that’s tied to strong new releases.

The NPD figures don’t break out individual console sales, but it does give us an overall picture. ‘The 106 percent increase in hardware sales (vs. June 2013) was lifted entirely by console hardware sales, which were up by over 200 percent,” Callahan noted. “The strong sales performance of console hardware helped to offset the declines seen in portable hardware. Combined sales of Xbox One and PS4 are over 80 percent higher than the combined totals for Xbox 360 and PS3 — an indication of the strength of the start of this new console generation.”

In a separate statement, Microsoft noted that sales of the Xbox One for June more than doubled the previous month, but no numbers were provided. Sony just declared that the PS4 continued to be the first-place seller, which makes sense; otherwise you can bet Microsoft would have touted the Xbox One’s status as the number one selling console. The Wii U continues to be a distant third, as the enthusiasm over Mario Kart 8 wears off. Still, Nintendo noted in a release that Mario Kart 8 sold over 885,000 copies in the US during its first five weeks, and that Wii U sales were up 48 percent in June over June 2013’s Wii U numbers.

“In terms of software titles, many of the top games in June 2014 mirrored those of May 2014, with six of the same games ranking in the top ten,” said Callahan. “Three of these top ten games were also new launches from May 2014 (Watch Dogs, Mario Kart 8, and Wolfenstein: The New Order), indicating the weakness of new launches in June.”

Callahan noted some differences in the performance on new releases versus the same period last year. “While unit sales of launch titles in June 2014 declined 67 percent when compared to June 2013 launch title sales, there was a 47 percent increase in unit sales for games that launched across the second quarter of 2014 (April — June) when compared to the same time period in 2013,” Callahan said. “Sales of launch titles in June 2014 did not compare favorably to those launched in June 2013, which included the PS3 exclusive The Last of Us, along with Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and a retail version of Minecraft for the Xbox 360.”

“Console software increased by 6 percent, with portable software driving overall video game software declines,” Callahan said, rather ominously from the 3DS and PS Vita points of view.

June 2014 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)
1. Watch Dogs (PS4, 360, XBO, PS3, PC)** Ubisoft
2. Mario Kart 8 (NWU) Nintendo
3. Minecraft (360, PS3) Microsoft / Sony
4. UFC (PS4, XBO) Electronic Arts
5. FIFA 14 (PS4, 360, XBO, PS3, PSV) Electronic Arts
6. NBA 2K14 (360, PS3, PS4, XBO, PC)** Take 2 Interactive
7. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC) Bethesda Softworks
8. Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS4, PS3, XBO, NWU, PC)** Activision Blizzard
9. Tomodachi Life (3DS) Nintendo
10. Grand Theft Auto V (360, PS3)** Take 2 Interactive
**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

Casual Connect SF 2014 Preview

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The Casual Connect show comes to San Francisco next week on July 22 through July 24, and its three days are packed with multiple tracks of programming covering everything from game design to casino games to marketing to being an indie developer. The show is anything but casual in its comprehensive coverage of the games industry, and as a direct consequence the show is well-attended by the industry. Ostensibly it’s all about casual games, but somehow more intense games have managed to sneak into the tent, too.

Since there’s such a crowded schedule of events, the [a]list daily provides a look at some of the presentations that sound likely to be more interesting or educational. It’s also true that you can glean some information about the state of the industry and the important trends merely by contemplating the event schedule.

Interestingly, Amazon leads off prior to the show with an Amazon Developer Day on Monday. The event is billed as “the place for game developers to learn about building for Amazon’s latest devices, including Fire phone and Fire TV.” This shows Amazon is serious about developing a good set of apps for this hardware, and realizes that games are a key part of the business. This is a good way to see how serious a company is about building an audience for its game-playing hardware: Do they have a strong presence at industry events where developers can be influenced.

Another interesting thing to note about this year’s Casual Connect is the growing number of sessions devoted to eSports. As the sector continues to grow, so do the number of sessions. People realize it’s worth paying attention to eSports, particularly when major brands like Coca-Cola and American Express are jumping in as sponsors, streaming providers like Twitch and Azubu get millions of eSports viewers each month, and multiple companies like Riot, Wargaming and Valve are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues from games with strong eSports followings. Games are now being specifically designed for eSports, and games which could have an eSports component are getting a fresh look from companies eager to get a piece of this popular action.

Other popular topics at Casual Connect include the continuing search to find the right balance between gaming fun and selling things for free-to-play games, and the role of advertising in monetization. Just as popular a topic as free-to-play is how to increase retention and generate higher LTV’s, and many publishers seem to be heading towards harder core games to do that. While many sessions are devoted to various tools, statistics and analyses of how to tweak you key performance indicators, it’s nice to see some sessions devoted to game design as well, since ultimately that’s where the value resides. Tweaking metrics may be able to tease value out of its cave, but if there’s only a mouse-sized value in the game design cave you’ll never be able to turn it into elephantine profits.

Some of the sessions that look most interesting at Casual Connect:

Tuesday has a full lineup of interesting panels, beginning with the Mobile Game Publishing Executive Roundtable from 10:00 — 10:50. Panelists include Nick Malaperiman, Head of Publishing, Roadhouse Games; Giordano Contestabile, VP Product Management & Revenue,Tilting Point; Tim Harris, Founder & President,Industrial Toys; Walter Driver, Co-Founder & CEO, Scopely; and Barry Dorf, VP of Partnerships & Alliances, DeNA. The panel is moderated by Ian Atkinson, VP Product, Sleepy Giant.

After that, check out Dissecting League of Legends Monetization from 11:00 — 11:50; where Teut Weidemann, Senior Online Supervisor for Ubisoft Blue Byte analyzes the popular MOBA to discern some of the ways this game generates so much revenue.

After lunch on Tuesday, from 2:00 to 2:50 the session titled eSports: Opportunities for Brands and Game Companies should be revelatory. Panelists include Craig Levine, VP North America, ESL: Kevin Lin, COO, Twitch; Matt Wolf, Head of Global Gaming,The Coca-Cola Company; and it’s moderated by Peter Warman, the CEO of data firm Newzoo.

Concluding the great lineup of sessions for Tuesday is Honing the Power of the YouTube Influencer from 4:00 — 4:50, with Luke Stepleton, Co-founder, 3BlackDot; Tom Cassell, YouTube Personality, The Syndicate Project; Adam “Seananners” Montoya, YouTube Personality, SeaNanners Gaming Channel; Jimmy Yun, CEO, Section Studios; and Mitch Berman, Managing Partner, Zen Media Entertainment Group. It will interesting to see what these key people say about sponsored YouTube content.

Wednesday also has a strong lineup of sessions, with one of the highlights sure to be Messaging Apps: A New Frontier for Gaming Developers to Acquire and Engage Gamers from 2:00 — 2:50, with Jim Ying, VP Game Publishing, Tango; Josh Burns, Gaming Industry Consultant; and Dennis Yi, Business Development Manager, GAMEVIL USA, moderated by Chris Tanquary, Strategic Partnership Lead, Samsung Media Solutions Center America. Messaging apps like WeChat, Line and Kakao have become leading ways for mobile games to find customers in Asia. Will this happen elsewhere, and how do you get a piece of that action.

Also at the same time on Wednesday is a session for those developers trying to go their own way. Indie Entrepreneurship: Lessons from the Trenches is at 2:00 — 2:50, featuring Amy Dallas, Co-Founder, ClutchPlay Games; Robin Hunicke, Co-Founder, Funomena; Marguerite Dibble, President, gametheory; and Jenna Hoffstein, Founder, Little Worlds Interactive. The panel is moderated by Jason Della Rocca, Co-Founder, Execution Labs.

Finally, at the end of Wednesday there’s PC to Console to Mobile: The Proliferation of eSports from 4:00 — 4:50, with Anthony Jacobson, Head of Publisher Relations and Business Development, Skillz Inc.; Wim Stocks, EVP,Virgin Gaming; Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham, Director of Community & Education, Twitch; and Tim Harris, Founder & President,Industrial Toys. The moderator is Mike VORHAUS, President,Magid Advisors.

If you’re still able to absorb information after two intense days, on Thursday it’s worth checking out User Acquisition Secrets from the Top Casino Games in the World from 11:00 — 11:50, to get a read on the growing market for social casino and real-money gaming. The panel includes Nick Talarico, Founder & CEO, 12 Gigs; Riz Virk, Co-Founder & CEO, Midverse Studios; Shmuel Tennenhaus, VP Marketing, Big Fish; and Louis Deering, Marketing Services Department Manager, Income Access Group. The moderator is John Gargiulo, SVP Business Development & Marketing, BlueStacks.

There are a host of other sessions as well, including a full series of sessions on design, art, audio, and development in general. Indies are also shown some serious love with a full track devoted to panels and sessions on every aspect of the indie experience, from funding to development to marketing. Whatever your specialty or interest in the game industry, there will be sessions or even whole tracks devoted to it at Casual Connect SF. Look for the [a]list daily’s reports from the show next week!

Drawing Followers In With Content Marketing

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Content marketing can be an uphill struggle when it comes to outreach, particularly with business and consumer brands alike. However, it can be achieved, and beyond the usual “interruptive” advertising that most companies are prone to using.

This can be done through engagement apps, which provide a number of ways that consumers can create shareable brand-themed content with their fellow followers and even fans, if their page manages to be big enough. It’s just a matter of following a few basic tips, as reported by Mashable.

First off, allowing fans and followers to vote on what sort of advertising works best is a positive move, even if it’s as something as simple as a logo on a t-shirt, or which photo to use for a magazine cover. This allows users to provide input, without having questions forced upon them that require an answer before moving on.

A personalized brand experience also goes a long way. Such an example of this is clothing brand Jones NY, which leverages followers’ Linkedin profiles with a Style Creator campaign, which lets executive women select outfits based on suggestions from their profile.

Allowing fans and followers to contribute brand-related content is another smart move, as it would enable them to provide their own input without, again, feeling like it’s a forced decision. With photos, videos and other stories as a means for submitting, it can make it seem like its their own personal experience, while related to your brand.

Uncovering profile insights and challenging the knowledge of the social audience round out the five steps, allowing them to interact in unique ways that tie in with the brand itself. Microsoft provides an example of this with the Nametag Analyzer, which allows Linkedin users to see what a new job title would look like to them. As far as knowledge challenging, Visit Norway USA actually dared fans to answer questions about Norway itself, with a question per day for an entire month.

The full article can be found here.

Source: Mashable

SuperData June 2014: ‘New Titles Raise Hell’

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SuperData CEO, Joost van Dreunen, analyses the June numbers in this special [a]list daily report:

  • Digital games market totals $774 million in June, as Watch_Dogs drives digital console.
  • Subscription MMO market declines, as spending per player reaches $170 per year.
  • New entrants WildStar and Elder Scrolls Online challenge status quo in $2.9B MMO market.
  • King rolls out more happy fun time; silences critics. Glu rolls out Kardashian bombshell.

In this month’s digital games report, we take a closer look at the subscription-based MMO (pay-to-play) market, following the release of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls Online and NCsoft’s Wildstar. Despite an ongoing decline in both players and total revenues, the average revenue per user continues to rise. The subscription-based MMO market, now a mature market, is expected to stabilize in the next few years, as free-to-play alternatives reach saturation. With the value of an average pay-to-play player going up, we expect more ferocious competition among Western and Eastern publishers, offering higher quality gameplay and new narrative settings.

June proved a sluggish month for the digital games market, despite the success of Watch Dogs (Ubisoft) and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood (Glu Mobile). Overall spending totaled $774 million, up 4.6 percent compared to June last year. Both the digital console and PC downloadable categories were down 11 percent from the high in April, led by Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs, and totaled $240 million in June. As the new console cycle gains momentum, following the announcements of key titles at last month’s E3, we observe a slight year-over-year dip among social, mobile and free-to-play in favor of digital console and PC.

Microtransaction revenue offsets losses in subscription revenue

The pay-to-play MMO market has been shrinking since 2010, dropping from 30.6 million monthly active subscribers worldwide to 23.4 million this year. To offset the loss of revenue, several key titles have incorporated or switched entirely to a microtransaction-based revenue model. In the past five years, the percentage of revenue for subscription-based MMO generated via additional in-game microtransactions has roughly doubled from 14 percent for 27 percent. Furthermore, the average digital spend, in addition to the monthly fee, has tripled from $16 to $46 worldwide. Despite the overall decline, this category has so far managed to maximize their ability to monetize a shrinking yet loyal player base.

Wildstar (NCsoft) and Elder Scrolls Online (Bethesda) challenge status quo

When Bethesda Softworks released Elder Scrolls Online, the industry took notice as the publisher fearlessly announced a subscription model, rather than going free-to-play like its direct competitor Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft). So far, a subscriber base of 772,374 (June) indicates that its strategy is working. And perhaps its because of this that NCsoft released its own subscription-based title, Wildstar, over one month ago. As the initial purchase included a free first month, NCsoft is about to find out how strong the demand for sci-fi action really is. Traditionally, sci-fi styled MMOs tend to generate three times as much in monthly revenue compared to fantasy-based titles. And the early signs are good. According to Carbine, the game has so far seen “four to five times” as many concurrent users than during its open beta stage. Combined with NCsoft’s expertise, having four titles in the worldwide top 10 for subscription-based MMOs last year, Wildstar is a strong contender in the current market.

King silences critics

Despite heavy criticism during the time of its IPO, King has doubled down on developing a stable of fun yet increasingly challenging games for both mobile and social platforms. In June, it released Bubble Witch 2 on Facebook and mobile, which builds on the mechanics of several of its other titles, offering a clever mixture of bubble shooting, puzzling and animal rescue. On the business end, King is also making moves. It announced having entered into an agreement with Tencent to handle its distribution in Asia, and shifting marketing budget away from mobile (due to a lack of inventory) in favor of traditional TV advertising to expand its audience reach.

Glu rolls out Kardashian bombshell

As the mobile games market grows more crowded, the anticipated value of brands is starting to become evident as we observed the explosive success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood (Glu Mobile). The game managed to become the top grossing mobile title in just a few weeks, due to a combination of the high visibility of Kim Kardashian, experienced game design from Glu Mobile and a clear targeting of female mobile gamers. Provided its success persists, the title is currently on track to generate $200 million this year.

Source: SuperData

What Apple Has In Store For Gaming

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Apple’s got a number of new product introductions slated for the rest of this year, if the company follows its usual pattern. Nothing’s official yet, but unless something catastrophic happens Apple will be introducing a new iPhone and a new iPad this year, at a minimum. The other thing we can be sure about is that whatever Apple does, it’s going to be important to the gaming industry. The mobile games industry is the fastest growing segment of the overall games business, and iOS games are still the revenue leaders despite the strong growth of Android devices. Billions of dollars in game revenues are affected by what Apple does, and the [a]list daily takes a look at what may be coming for iOS this year.

iPhone 6

Rumors have been flying about Apple’s plans for the newest iPhones, and parts purporting to be from production lines have begun showing up. The core rumors report two new sizes of iPhone in the works, one with a 4.7 inch screen and and one with a 5.5 inch screen. While the 4.7 inch screen seems likely to be announced in mid to late September, the larger iPhone may or may not be announced at that time. The larger iPhone is said to be encountering production difficulties, and may launch later in 2014 or even be delayed to 2015. The mockups in the concept illustration show the iPhone 5S next to the two rumored models of the iPhone 6.

Here’s the best consensus on specs: Both new models will sport an improved A8 processor, a sapphire covering for the screen instead of Gorilla Glass (no more screen protectors needed!), and an improved camera, along with a likely screen resolution of 1704 x 906. The larger iPhone may offer up to 128 GB of memory, and its camera may have optical image stabilization. Pricing will probably be the same as current iPhones for the 4.7 inch version, and perhaps $100 more for the 5.5 inch version.

If history is any guide, Apple will sell tens of millions of these phones in short order. The iPhone 5s is currently the best-selling phone in the world, so expect a warm reception for these new models. Apple has been selling more than 50 million iPhones each quarter, and that will no doubt continue. For gaming, the iPhone 6 will be tremendous by offering a bigger screen and even better CPU and graphics performance.

iPad 6

The changes in the iPad this year look to be fewer in number, primarily the addition of the Touch ID sensor and the faster A8 processor. It’s possible the screen may be improved, and the cameras may well get better. Rumors also indicate an “iPad Pro” is being developed for 2015, with a 4K display, and a 12.9 or 13.3 inch screen; this would no doubt command a higher price point. If Apple follows its usual pattern, the new iPad models will be announced in October in order to be in good supply for Christmas.

The impact on gaming is considerable, as the A8 processor (combined with Apple’s new Metal SDK for improving graphics performance) should propel the iPad into amazing graphics territory. Expect to see graphics that can outdo the best of an Xbox 360 or a PS3 in some ways, and you can be sure that game developers are going to be pushing that envelope hard.

While Apple hasn’t been moving as many tablets as it has smartphones, you can still expect to see over 20 million iPads selling each quarter. In other words, every month Apple sells about as many iPads as the total installed base of the PS4, and more than the Xbox One. That’s one big reason so many publishers are working on tablet games.

Apple TV

This little “hobby” of Apple’s is rumored to get the biggest upgrade in its history this year, as Apple finally allows the device to drive an App Store. A new model of the hardware will also be introduced, probably with several key improvements: An A8 processor for top-notch gaming and media performance is the most important change, along with better WiFi and perhaps more ability to increase storage. The $99 price point should remain the same, and it’s likely to be introduced in October along with new iPads.

While Apple has already sold over 25 million Apple TVs, the sales potential of the newest Apple TV is much greater. Apple may well announce several new streaming video services for the box, and will no doubt arrange to have a killer lineup of apps. Supporting the device should be easy for developers now that controller support is already included in iOS 7, and iOS 8 will have even better support. You’ll be able to use an iPhone or an iPad as a controller, or get a standalone Bluetooth controller that looks like a console controller. (We’ve seen iPhone/iPad controllers announced from Mad Catz, Razer, Logitech and others already.)

The real win for Apple will come with games that already exist being updated to transition seamlessly from mobile to Apple TV. If you’re playing a game on your iPad, you’ll be able to put it up on your TV screen by using an Apple TV. There’s even more possibilities for designers in the interactions between ubiquitous smartphones and tablets along with TV screens.

The market for an Apple TV with games could easily be 3-5 million units per month or even more, dwarfing current console sales. Publishers that already have an iOS portfolio of games will be pleased to see something like this happen; other publishers may have to rethink development plans if this occurs. This isn’t likely to affect next-gen console sales in the near term, but in the long term it could well divert some sales and attention from Sony and Microsoft’s top consoles. It all depends on the games, in the end, and if developers will begin to provide some of the top consoles titles in a very similar form on the new Apple TV. And don’t forget the Amazon Fire TV, and the Android TV models that will be coming out soon. The battle at the low end of the console business is definitely heating up.

Thor Announcement On ‘The View’ Signifies Deeper Disney-Marvel Synergies

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Moderator Whoopi Goldberg’s revelation on Tuesday’s edition of The View that Marvel Comics’ Thor God of Thunder is about to become a woman set the fanboy community abuzz, but what is truly interesting are the implications the announcement has at the corporate level.

A quick deconstruction of the three-minute clip, where the show’s line-up chats over the development reveals an almost chemically tooled shout out from ABC to Marvel Comics, two divisions of The Walt Disney Company. Goldberg opens the segment referencing not the Marvel movies, but the Marvel comic book universe, a rarity in mass media. The June issue of the Thor comic sold less than 37,000 copies, placing 55 on the Diamond Top 300 list.

After some good-natured joking, Jenny McCarthy provides details, and we learn that the Thor we know “messes up” and a woman inherits the mantle and hammer to become the new God of Thunder, and “role model” for young girls. Attitude, unsurprisingly, was overwhelmingly positive, and several audience cheers punctuated the segment.

Superheroes in comic books routinely retire, are (temporarily) killed off, and spawn female versions of themselves (Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel), so why the big to-do about a fairly routine development in a mid-selling comic book The segment exemplifies how well Disney’s children are playing with one another. Before Disney CEO Bob Iger came to power, the various units of the company were isolated silos, with Michael Eisner’s focus on feature films and home video far and away dominating the conglomerate.

After Iger acquired companies like Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, declaring that each would continue to run autonomously, but receive the support of the Disney corporate hub, the popular sensibility was that this was hard to believe. After all, most media empires operate in silos. If there were any synergies or multi-platform efforts to be made, they would be in support of the year’s biggest and splashiest events. The View’s Thor segment—with nary a mention of Thor movie star Chris Hemsworth—proves Iger good to his word.

Iger has already proven that a transmedia approach to the expansion of their properties can be monstrously successful. Storylines generated out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars will traverse everything from PlayStations to novels to Netflix originals. Now Disney is traversing media with conversations about the stories, with a focus, it seems, on what might be interesting to certain segments of the audience, rather than necessarily on the bottom line or lowest common denominator.

Jeff Gomez is CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, a New York based production company that consults with Hollywood studios on some of their most popular entertainment franchises. Follow him @Jeff_Gomez.

Evolve Media Unveils New Solution To Boost Video Ad Viewability

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By Sahil Patel

Digital publisher Evolve Media has launched INgage, a new solution designed to make video ads more viewable on a web page.

The product is pretty simple. It embeds a large video ad player as an expandable unit within an article. However, the video only expands and starts playing once the user scrolls over the section of the article where it’s embedded. If the user continues scrolling and goes “out of view,” the video will stop playing, ensuring that all viewable impressions delivered by the unit are actual views by actual humans. (For a visual example of how it works, click here and start scrolling.)

Developed out of Evolve’s SpringBoard Video platform, INgage provides reporting and analytics on metrics such as video starts, stops, mutes, and quartile viewership; is VAST and VPAID compliant; and is plugged into Nielsen’s OCR module.

The value of such a product is obvious. Instead of advertisers worrying about their ads being delivered on a small video player on the side or corner of a webpage, this unit puts an ad front-and-center while a site visitor is already engaged.

That said, the nature of INgage also begs the question, what’s to stop a visitor from continuing to scroll past the ad Nothing, admits Evolve’s co-founder and president Brian Fitzgerald. And yet, the unit is already delivering an average completion rate of 35-40%, he says.

Where INgage is likely to be more valuable is in the field of branded entertainment, or native video advertising — anytime a piece of branded content isn’t just a commercial. “This way, we are serving up relevant video to users on a site and they are far more likely to view to completion,” says Fitzgerald.

“Imagine a gaming news show created in partnership with Alienware as its sponsor,” he continues. “Now imagine we used INgage to distribute that to only gaming sites or we cookie all visitors to our gaming properties, that is our first party data, and then we retarget them through INgage across our portfolio of sites, across sites in categories beyond gaming.”

INgage is the first in a “long line” of both display and video solutions that will employ Evolve’s viewability technology, according to Fitzgerald. It was developed as a solution for Evolve’s own publishing units, CraveOnline and TotallyHer, to deliver branded and social video programs, in addition to standard pre-rolls.

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.